{"id":529226,"date":"2025-06-03T20:36:48","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T17:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=529226"},"modified":"2025-06-03T20:36:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T17:36:48","slug":"metropolitan-petru-parents-icons-children-orthodox-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/metropolitan-petru-parents-icons-children-orthodox-message\/","title":{"rendered":"Metropolitan Petru: Parents are a living icon for children in a spiritually noisy world"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/mitropoliabasarabiei.md\/mitropolitul-petru-mesaj-catre-copii-si-parinti-sa-crestem-o-generatie-de-sfinti-ai-veacului-ce-vine\/\">message<\/a> marking International Children\u2019s Day, His Eminence Metropolitan Petru of Bessarabia emphasized the vital role of parents as models and \u201cliving icons\u201d for their children.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>His Eminence described children as \u201cthe most precious treasure of the Church and of the nation,\u201d noting their \u201cpure souls and luminous eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Quoting Saint Basil the Great, Metropolitan Petru reminded the faithful that \u201cthe soul of a child is like soft wax\u2014it easily takes the shape of the seal impressed upon it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For this reason, he said, \u201call those who labor in the field of education\u2014parents, grandparents, teachers, and priests\u2014are called to sow in a child\u2019s heart the fruits of love, faith, and hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The metropolitan stressed that \u201ca word spoken gently, a prayer said with the child, a self-giving gesture offered with joy\u2014all become foundation stones for a life built in Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn a time troubled by too many voices and too few pure ones, children need more than ever the icon of their parents,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe urge you, with a parental heart, to delight in your children, to be their light and guide, and to keep them close to the Church, to prayer, and to holiness. A childhood spent at Sunday Liturgy, in the scent of incense, the sound of church bells, and the embrace of a praying mother is a childhood that will bear fruit in holiness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Photo: Metropolis of Bessarabia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a message marking International Children\u2019s Day, His Eminence Metropolitan Petru of Bessarabia emphasized the vital role of parents as models and \u201cliving icons\u201d for their children. His Eminence described children as \u201cthe most precious treasure of the Church and of the nation,\u201d noting their \u201cpure souls and luminous eyes.\u201d Quoting Saint Basil the Great,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":528852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[25825,33488,25833,2199,53,35199],"class_list":["post-529226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dioceses","tag-international-childrens-day","tag-metropolitan-petru-of-bessarabia","tag-orthodox-family","tag-republic-of-moldova","tag-romanian-orthodox-church","tag-spiritual-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}